The Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory comprises the results of an extensive peer survey. This comprehensive guide to legal talent in Canada identifies both leading lawyers and law firms from across the country.

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2017 Zenith Award Winners

Recognized leaders in their field, Frances Gallop and Angela
Rae advise and represent employers in all aspects of labour
and employment law. They advise clients on issues central
to the advancement of women, including human rights,
accommodation, discrimination, pay equity, harassment
and parental leave. Both Frances and Angela have been
instrumental in changing the culture of the historically maledominated
labour Bar and of their firm. Frances and Angela
have consistently provided mentorship, counselling, and
practice management support to women in the firm and
the broader legal community. They’ve written articles and
provided seminars and training programs to their clients and
the legal community on discrimination, harassment, equity
and human rights issues, and on recognizing and resolving
cultural and systemic barriers. Both have prepared policies for
clients and the firm on equity-related issues.

Navi Gill is Senior Crown Counsel with the BC Ministry of
Justice and leader of the Hate Crime Resource Counsel.
Navi was part of the northern community working project,
using her litigation and dispute-resolution skills to work with
Indigenous people involved in the criminal justice system,
or struggling with domestic violence. She taught in the
Department of Criminology at Northwest Community College,
where she was an active youth mentor. Since 2004, she has
pioneered revisions to witness accommodation, enabling
young children to testify from outside the courtroom. She’s a
champion for advancing women in law, serving on numerous
boards and giving time to organizations addressing cultural
and systematic barriers. A founding member of the Women in
Law group at U of C Faculty of Law, she has promoted equity,
diversity and access to justice.

Jennifer Gold is a partner of Wood Gold LLP and practises
family law and wills. Jennifer is currently a director of the
Women’s Law Association of Ontario, a member of the Peel
Law Association, and a volunteer with the advisory working
group of the Peel Region United Way. She has also formerly
served on the board of the North York Women’s Shelter and
now serves as a mentor to other lawyers in the family law Bar.
She appears regularly in the Ontario Court of Justice, Ontario
Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Appeal. In
addition to extensive litigation experience, Jennifer also offers
mediation and a settlement-focused approach to family law
cases. By entering into partnership, Jennifer Gold and Frances
Wood sought to create an alternative to the traditional law
firm with a priority on work-life balance.

Éloïse Gratton is a partner, national co-leader of the privacy and
data protection practice group, and an office representative
of BLG’s diversity and inclusion committee. Éloïse is a top
Canadian privacy- and data-protection lawyer, relied upon by
federal and provincial privacy commissioners, as well as the
federal government. She has submitted papers to the Privacy
Commissioner of Canada on the right to be forgotten and on
addressing the challenges of choice and consent in the digital
age. She has testified before the House of Commons Standing
Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, as
well as before the Standing Committee on Industry, Science
& Technology. She also provides training workshops to judges
on social media and legal risks. She was recently appointed
a member of the board of directors of the Société québécoise
d’information juridique.

Neena Gupta became one of the first female South Asian
lawyers in Saskatchewan in 1998. Today Neena is an expert
in employment law, a popular speaker on human rights,
and an active member of the firm’s student recruitment and
mentorship programs. In 2014, Neena helped implement the
firm’s national diversity and inclusion council and is currently
its co-chair. Neena’s accomplishments at the council,
despite its infancy, are extensive and include obtaining firm
management ratification of recommendations on recruitment
and retention policies, unconscious bias training for every
individual in the firm and culture-shifting events such as
the firm’s celebration of International Women’s Day. Neena
helped found the Visible Minority Women’s Subcommittee at
the Ontario Bar Association and served as Chair of the Equity
Committee of the Canadian Bar Association.